Gender policies in crisis
Published on Mon, 2013-03-11 13:40
On International Women’s Day the global civil society network Social Watch emphasised the challenges facing women in different parts of the world. Three articles on the impact on women of policies being implemented in Canada, Egypt and Korea, are being published, all of them national contributions to the Social Watch Report for 2013. The Canadian Social Watch coalition reports that it’s government’s austerity policies that aim to reduce debt and the deficit is resulting in increased income inequality. Austerity means cuts to social infrastructure spending, public sector employment as well as to health and welfare institutions that used to put Canada near the top of international measures of well-being. Civil society organisations and research institutions that measure the effective of these policies and promote alternatives are having their funding withdrawn as part of the cuts. The end result is that increasing numbers of people are being driven into poverty, the majority of who are women. In Egypt with the passing of the second anniversary of the January 25th revolution human rights and feminist organisations have expressed their deep concern at the escalation of policies that reinforce impunity, do not protect citizens and do not guarantee the right of peaceful assembly. The Social Watch country report identifies a perpetuation of an approach by groups that support the Morsi regime in targeting female activists and excluding women from the public sphere through direct incitement and aggression. It argues that sexual violence cannot be separated from women’s declining social status and that there must be public accountability for such crimes as women should not be out casted or tooled for political or tactical considerations. South Korea has achieved sustained economic growth since 1950, but inequality remains. While GDP doubled in the decade from 2000 to 2009 relative poverty rates for children, pensioners and women increased. Poverty is more prevalent in elderly women, amongst those with less education, in vulnerable health and in rural areas. The Social Watch national report concludes that the government needs to implement policies to reduce socioeconomic inequality that go beyond reducing inequity and poverty, by creating quality jobs and social protection programs. Sources: Thanks to Eurostep. |
